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Edwards Lifesciences meets 3Q profit forecasts

IRVINE, Calif. – Edwards Lifesciences Corp. on Tuesday reported worse-than-expected sales for the third quarter and forecast another shortfall in the fourth quarter, sending its shares down in after-hours trading.

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The company said it earned $141.4 million, or 65 cents per share, during the quarter, up 20 percent from $118.1 million, or 54 cents per share, a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, the Irvine, California-based company said it earned 68 cents per share.

The results met Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was also for earnings of 68 cents per share.

The medical device maker posted revenue of $739.4 million in the period, which missed Street forecasts. Nine analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $748.3 million. Sales were up 20 percent year over year, or 18.4 percent excluding the impact of currency and other adjustments.

For the current quarter ending in December, Edwards Lifesciences expects its per-share earnings to range from 67 cents to 77 cents and revenue in the range of $750 million to $790 million. Analysts expect earnings per share of 74 cents on revenue of $802.3 million, according to FactSet.

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Edwards Lifesciences raised its full-year profit guidance, saying it now expects earnings in the range of $2.82 to $2.92 per share, with revenue at the high end of a range of $2.7 billion to $3 billion. That's up from its previous EPS guidance between $2.78 and $2.88. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast an annual profit of $2.89 per share on revenue of $3 billion.

Edwards Lifesciences shares have risen 44 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 5 percent. Shares closed Tuesday at $113.68, a climb of 52 percent in the last 12 months. In after-hours trading, the stock declined 13 percent to $98.59.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on EW at http://www.zacks.com/ap/EW